The invention relates generally to a regulating valve of the type comprising a housing with a cylindrical valve chamber that has at least one inflow port and at least two outflow ports. The inflow and the outflow ports of this type of valve can be at least partly closed off as required by a common valve body that can rotate about an axis arranged in the valve chamber. The valve body is configured as a rotary valve, and can be actuated by a drive. The inflow and/or at least one of the outflow ports is surrounded on the side of the housing facing the valve body by a seal, which can be brought into sealing engagement with the valve body under elastic preload.
A regulating valve of this kind is described in DE-OS 26 32 476, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The regulating valve is configured as a flowthrough medium control valve and is used in a mixer tap to mix cold and hot water. Both the inlets and the outlets are arranged displaced from one another, the inlets and outlets being arranged at right angles to one another. However, because of the strong acceleration of the flow at the flowoff edge of the valve body, the actuation forces encountered when opening the inflows are considerable, since the suction effects which occur during opening act on the valve body so as to close the valve. Hence, the drive required by such a valve must be designed with sufficient strength to overcome the suction forces, which is economically disadvantageous and which compromises the goal of providing a valve having compact dimensions.